In a few days, the United States remembers one of the most tragic days in our history. This is a day that is very pensive for me, as I’m sure it is for you. And so today, our Kindness Matters Monday story is a little different than most.

Today, we remember heroes who ran up burning staircases.

We remember everyday citizens who charged their own airplane into a field, knowing they were saving countless lives by doing so.We remember the volunteer firefighter who, as a teenager, once held up traffic because a mother goose had been run over by a car and he had to get her babies to safety. Even as a young man, he had the instinct to rescue and to save. On 9/11, after the first tower was struck, he was one of the firemen called to help rescue.

When traffic was so congested that his truck couldn’t get any closer, he headed on foot to the first tower.